Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 7

I floated. I was suspended horizontally in space, though before I would have sworn I was upright. Disoriented, I reached for Sariel to keep my balance. My fingers closed over enormous feathers so soft they seemed like down. At my touch, Sariel let out a startled moan.
    Encouraged, I stroked along the feathers and watched what I could see of his face. That sensual mouth gasped in unaccustomed bliss. The proud chin with its faint cleft lifted in the same exultation that I felt. Then Sariel looked into my eyes for the first time. His glowed, as silvery and dangerous as uranium.
    If God created man in his own image, in whose image had He created Sariel? Sariel seemed more godlike than any man I'd ever seen.
    "You must take me from here. Please." Sariel sounded sad and sweet. His fingers moved over my body, seeming to mend and change me, molding my being with his hands.
    "Take you away? I don't even know where we are." The faint illumination of Sariel's sigils didn't provide enough light to get my bearings.
    "We are in the shadow of the Shekinah. Think of the moon, Remy Cooper. God is as the sun, and where He smiles, there is light. We stand now on its opposite hemisphere, in the darkness beyond God's eye, on the dark side of the moon. He is all-powerful, and He could look here, but He will not. The Shekinah is His earthly presence, His spirit here on earth, a sense of home for His children, the Mother aspect, for Mary was only human, though exalted above all women."
    Though Sariel spoke with the same patient, confident air as the best teachers, what he said was so beyond my ken that I could only blink uncomprehendingly. It sounded terrible, heretical. Then his hands cradled my skull. He stared into my eyes as if imparting knowledge by osmosis.
    His voice grew hoarse, urgent. "The Ursulines bound me here. It is a pocket dimension, a purgatory for the host of Heaven. It is Void."
    "Are angels afraid of the dark too?" I meant it light-heartedly, but Sariel pressed against me with a shudder. His body was warm and solid huddled against mine. I felt the power flow into me from the sigils, as if activated by his touch.
    "There is nothing worse than outer darkness, to be cast from the sight of God." Sariel's long hair tumbled down his bare shoulders, pale and creamy as fresh milk. His wings, regal and improbably strong, enfolded me. I could not tell from his expression whether it was to protect me from the darkness or show me what it was to be hidden from God's sight.
    "How do we leave? How do you return to...Shekinah or whatever it is?" I felt again the rush of unquestioning love, the need to protect my protector. I thought it would be worth dying, if I could save him.
    Gazing at me, Sariel's eyes narrowed. His full lower lip jutted in a distinctly human way, stubborn, and then he seemed to light up from within. His hands kneaded my muscles, releasing knots and tension until I felt weak with relaxation. I breathed deeply and entrusted myself to the cradle of his wings.
    "I can never go back, but if I lose my Grace, I will be mortal as you are mortal." Sariel studied my face as he spoke. "In the first age of the world, angels lay with the daughters of men, and I watched my brothers fall. I held back my fleshly form and gave them secrets instead, knowledge of the universe in exchange for their company, but I will be yours, Remy Cooper, if you save me."
    Sariel's fingers were cool and certain as they moved down my belly. I held my breath, hollowing my stomach as if I could will those fingers lower faster. I wanted to promise him anything, everything, in return, but I'd learned already how foolish that was.
    Before that moment, I had never been comfortable with sex. I'd lost my virginity at sixteen in the bed of my friend's pickup truck. He'd closed his eyes tightly not to look at what he was doing, not to admit to himself he wanted me too. Afterward he'd cried that he was going to Hell. I told him to shut up and go already, pulled on my jeans, and hobbled home. I'd never expected much from anyone since then. I didn't go to clubs to pick up men; I just hung out backstage with the queens. They took care of me.
    This was something else, though. Whom could I trust if not an angel who'd saved me once already? The Knowing filled my mind and drove out all doubts. I would be Sariel's, and then he would be mine.
    I held still, enveloped in Sariel's wings, safe and warm as his deft fingers pulled my polo over my head and pushed my cargo